Master, This Poor Disciple Died Again Today

Hui hurtled upward at top speed, flying through the Immortal Realm’s tribulation even as it crashed down all around him. Zhubi flew around him, matching his pace even as his skin molted and his body changed. Even with phoenix flame constantly reinvigorating his body, Hui’s flesh still struggled to keep up with the pace of destruction bearing down on it.

At the same time, pain assaulted Hui’s brain as a mental attack tore into him. Doubts wound through his mind, while terrible whispers sounded in his ears. He pushed it away, ignoring it. The physical tribulation is a bit of a problem, but the mental tribulation should try harder. This isn’t even as bad as I do to myself half the time.

Zhubi looked up at Hui and tilted his head.

“Keep going. We’ll pierce through in no time!” Hui assured the snake, though his stomach lurched a little. He looked over to the side, where the golden hand pressed harder against the Heavenly Net. The Heavenly Net lit up for miles all around, the gold threads burning into the blue sky. It bent down toward the earth, denting around the hand.

I need to ascend before that hand breaks through the Heavenly Net and locks onto me. Master told me to fly up—it must mean he can’t help me this time. I have to reach the Heavens now, and enter the Immortal Realm before that hand finds me!

High above, the small hole in the Heavenly Net through which the ascension light pierced opened. Hui locked his eyes on it and hurtled upward, but even at his top speed, it approached slowly.

Faster! He circulated his life and death qi, his yin qi and ordinary qi, his blood qi, even his rot qi, hurtling forth with the full extent of his power. Ducks, songbirds, phoenixes, and one solitary penguin swirled around him, flapping their wings as if to speed his ascent.

The threads of the Heavenly Net broke one after another, snapping with enormous, resounding pings that shook the skies. Hui gritted his teeth. Faster. Can I go any faster?

Still a long, long ways to the hole above Hui. With every second, he grew faster. Faster. Faster. And yet, the hole barely grew larger. Dammit. It’s so far!

The hand broke through the net. It swooped toward Hui, curling into a claw. In the blinking of an eye, it curled around Hui. Immense pressure closed in on Hui from all directions.

Fuck! I’m dead!

Zhubi spun a loop around Hui. Still cloaked in his skin and half-transformed, he pushed his loops outward and smashed into the hand.

“Zhubi!” Hui shouted, his heart leaping. I can’t lose Zhubi again!

The hand closed around Zhubi. Hui shot out of its grasp, but it closed around Zhubi, holding him tight.

Hui turned back. I won’t leave Zhubi—

Flicking his tail, Zhubi burst out of the hand, leaving his shed skin behind. A number of claws curled out from his body, and his newly reformed face sported a dragon’s beard, horns, and tendrils. He scooped up Hui in his claws and flew toward the sky.

The hand chased after them from below, scooping up toward the Heavens. Pressure rolled off of it, threatening to lock Hui and Zhubi down. Eyes wide, Hui watched it close in. It’s going to catch us! There’s nothing we can… do…

Wait, hold on. What if I use its speed to send us upward? Like when you go to grab something in water. The faster your hand closes, the quicker that thing escapes your grasp. Why don’t I use that same principle to push us upward? Except in this case, it isn’t water that’s displacing us, but the hand’s own pressure.

Hui tentatively extended a tendril of qi downward. The qi rebounded back at him, pushed away by the hand’s thick pressure. He grinned. Excellent. It can work!

“Zhubi, go to my neck!” Hui called.

Zhubi hesitated a moment, then nodded. Shrinking down, he curled around Hui’s neck again.

Rather than continue flying upward, Hui turned around and flew downward. The hand opened, welcoming him in. A voice resounded in his head, so loud he winced. Good. You’ve accepted your fate. Come to me.

The hand clenched shut. Pressure closed in on all sides.

Hui instantly whirled about. He waited, pushing himself down lower and lower against the pressure as the hand closed. A quarter of the sky remained, then an eighth, then no more than a tiny square. All around him, the weight closed in on him.

Now! Releasing his downward push, Hui hurtled upward. He zoomed out of the tiny hole that remained in the hand’s grasp and shot toward the gap in the Heavens above faster than ever before.

“Get back here!” the voice roared aloud. The sky shook. The Heavenly Net deteriorated.

A little more. A little more! The hole rushed toward Hui. The light grew brighter. The lightning intensified. His body trembled as he flew, barely remaining together in one piece.

SNAP.

The Heavenly Net jolted, closing back in around the hand. The golden threads pushed the hand back, forcing it to retreat. The voice howled, but couldn’t fight the Heavenly Net’s reforming.

As the Heavenly Net reformed, the hole for Hui’s ascension began to close. Hui flew with all his might, using the force from the fist and from all his power to fly with his top speed. The hole closed steadily, shrinking down, down, down.

Shit! Hui looked around.

The hole from the hand breaking through hung agape, not yet closed.

“Zhubi!” Hui shouted

Zhubi hissed. Leaping back to full size, he flew alongside Hui. Both of them hurtled forth with all their might, speeding each other to push each other faster. They zoomed toward the repairing threads.

The tribulation chased them, lightning flashing after them, the gold light following their flight. It flickered as it passed behind the gold lines of the Heavenly Net, but consistently lit Hui and Zhubi.

Turning, the hand scooped for Hui and Zhubi again, but the Heavenly Net wrapped it up, entangling its grasp. The voice roared in frustration as Hui swooped by. Hui flew by, and passed the lines of the Heavenly Net. A slender membrane stretched in the place the Heavenly Net usually occupied, glimmering with a paler version of the Heavenly Net’s gold light.

Hui slammed into it. He pressed his hands against it and spun off his clone minds at full speed. In the space of a second, he tried a thousand combinations and attempts at cracking the Heavenly Net’s membrane. Death qi, rot qi, synchronization and desynchronization, ordinary qi, yin, nothing worked. Hui gritted his teeth. One last try!

Pushing his hands harder against the membrane, he sent a pulse of phoenix flame into it. The membrane burned up, then instantly began to heal. In the space of a heartbeat, only a pair of palm-sized holes remained, and they rapidly sealed over.

“Zhubi!” Hui compressed himself and zipped through the small hole. Zhubi flew through the other.

Blinding golden light washed over Hui. He reached out to Zhubi, but his vision washed out. Heavy weight slammed into his shoulders, unimaginably heavy even compared to the hand. Hui’s head swum. The world went black, and Hui passed out.